The DragonSTAR Plus 1st Webinar – China-EU Collaboration in Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology (FAB) was organized by SPI on 27th of May, 2015.

The DragonSTAR Plus is project financed by the European Commission under the new Horizon 2020 programme, that aims on providing services to both European and Chinese researchers, and on offering a flexible platform to support policy discussions between the European and Chinese stakeholders. The project is led by Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, with a consortium of 13 partners (nine from Europe and four from China).

The webinar aimed at facilitating researchers in accessing and approaching the funding programmes in Europe and China. The webinar was well attended with more than 50 participants from China, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Slovenia.

The webinar agenda included three presentations made by EU and Chinese researchers, addressing International Cooperation and Funding Opportunities in National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Horizon 2020 (Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnology) – Opportunities for China, and China-EU collaboration in Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnology. After the presentations, the webinar ended up with a fruitful open discussion.

DRAGON-STAR is funded by FP7, aiming to support the Chinese participation in Horizon 2020, the reciprocity originating from the signed EU-China Scientific Cooperation Agreement, the bilateral cooperation in scientific, technological and industrial research and innovation fields, and the ongoing EU - China Innovation Cooperation Dialogue.

DRAGON-STARPLUS follows its predecessor (DRAGON-STAR), in its important mandate to provide support services to European and Chinese researchers and policy makers, and to offer a flexible platform to facilitate policy discussions between European and Chinese stakeholders. The project has received funding under European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement No645775